Monday, July 23, 2012

This is the first page of Section 3 of the Matson family research
from correspondence between researchers in 1903. This page contains some details about a John Matson from some early Chester County, PA records. He married Hannah Norbury in 1741 and died in 1748. His estate was left to Hannah and no mention was made of any children.

John Matson

Chester County deeds, wills, etc.

This man was in Edgmont about 1741-5, and was probably a brother of Morris Matson.

From Swedley Genealogy:-

Thomas Norbury took up 125 A. in Newtown Twp. 1683. About 1684, he m. Frances, widow of Stephen Hugh of Springfield, by whom he had 10 children prior to 1712:-

Hannah, b. 6-25, 1724; m. (1) 9-5-1741, at Middletown Friends' Meeting, John Matson of Edgmont. He died 1748 and she m. (2) 12-22-1757 at Gosbeu? Meeting, George Swedley (b. 1719; died in Willistown 12-1-1765).

1748 Letters of Adm. on Estate of John Matson, late of Easttown, ?, granted July 16, 1748 to his widow Hannah Matson.

Adm. Doc B. p. 56. Original Papers 1163.

Amanuensis Monday – An
Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to
copy what has been written by another. Amanuensis Monday is a daily
blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe
family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts.
Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words
breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in
their life before we knew them. A fuller explanation can be found here. Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.

Friday, July 20, 2012

This week I was looking for information on the O'Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher and the Upper Blackwater in Ireland volumes by Albert E. Casey. The 16 large volumes making up the Casey collection contain a huge collection of Irish records covering parts of County Cork and County Kerry. I found several good sources of information on the volumes:

The Cork Past and Present site has an alphabetical index of the volumes for County Cork and County Kerry. From the index pages, I used my browser's Find function to search for the information available for specific volumes (e.g., Volume 7).

County Kerry Genealogy has a nice summary of the contents of each volume in The Casey Collection and partial extracts of some of the data for County Kerry. They also have a very useful PDF file with finding aids for locating information in the volumes, including batch numbers for FamilySearch records. The batch numbers are very handy for finding out which records are indexed in the FamilySearch IGI. One tip on the batch numbers is to put a dash before the last number when entering the batch number on the FamilySearch search screen (e.g. C70078-1 instead of C700781). Entering a batch number and surname helped me narrow down which volumes contained the most data on my surnames.

Week 28: Mistakes. Genealogy research mistakes are
wonderful learning experiences. They can be blessings when they show you
how to improve your genealogy research. Which genealogy research
mistake in your past has provided the most benefit to your present? How
did you discover the mistake and what steps did you take to correct it?
Sharing about these experiences will help others who are figuring out
their own ancestral paths.

One mistake I made was to accept published information without verifying it myself. I'm sure this is one of the most common mistakes that beginners make. For some of my lines, I was thrilled to see trees going back into the 1600s or even earlier. I was in gathering mode and eagerly added the new names to my tree. I've since been going back and retracing some of those steps to see what is valid and what is speculation.

Another mistake was not paying enough attention to small details that could be important clues. I posted earlier about the mystery of my ancestor Timothy Creeden and his wife Mary Matson being designated as first cousins on their marriage license. I had obtained the marriage license a few years ago, but didn't look into the "first cousin" angle any further since it didn't match up with the other data I had. It seemed impossible for a more recent immigrant like Timothy to be related as a first cousin to a family that went back many generations in the US. When I started taking a closer look at the Matson information, I realized that the dates for Mary's grandparents didn't add up, so there may be an opening there for one of Timothy's grandparents to have married into the family.

One more mistake was sharing too much information with people that published the information online. Even though I had emphasized that a lot of it was speculation, some of those trees are still floating around. I still don't hesitate to share information, but I am more careful about what I share.

So, what have I learned? Don't jump to conclusions, don't overlook details, verify every bit of information, and be cautious when sharing information!

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin
is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that
invite genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy
community including websites, applications, libraries, archives,
genealogical societies and more.

Monday, July 9, 2012

This is Page 4 of the Matson family research from correspondence between researchers in 1903.This page contains several marriage dates as well as some mentions of early Swedish immigrants to Pennsylvania. The John Matson in my family tree was born around 1758 and the possibility that he descended from the one listed here has been suggested to me. I don't know who the parents of my John Matson were, so I'm keeping it in mind as a possibility.

Matson Marriages

Nov. 5, 1740 John Matson and Katherine Gregory at St. First Presbyterian Church of Philad. See Records.
April 16, 1754 Joseph Mattson and Jane Steers, at Christs (P.E.) Church, Philad. See Records.

Since writing this, I have found the following-
1641 "In the third expedition [from Sweden], on the 'Kalmar Nyckel' and 'Charitas', 1641, came - Heindrich Matsson...
Chester Co. Hist., p. 11.
Aug. 8, 1672 "Whereas comp. has been made unto me by Jan Cornelis, Mattys Mattyson, & Martin Martinson, Inhabitants in Ausland in Delaware River" -- stating that they had possession of a parcel of meadow land upon the Island near their plantation at Calcoone Hooke, and that a patent covering it had been given to Israel Holmes, order made by Gov. Lovelace.
Chester Co. Hist. p. 13.
Sidenote: Austland (was Amosland) is in Ridley Twp., Chester Co.

---------------
A couple of notes on the ships mentioned:

From Wikipedia, "The Kalmar Nyckel (Key of Kalmar) was a Dutch-built armed merchant ship famed for carrying Finnish and Swedish settlers to North America in 1638 to establish the colony of New Sweden. A replica of the ship was launched at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1997."

From New Sweden Immigrants on Rootsweb, one of the passengers arriving in 1641 on the Charitas was "Hendrick Matson the Finn, a boy
To receive 10 R.D. as yearly wages with 10 daler copper money at the
start. In 1644 a laborer, cultivating tobacco at the plantation on the
Schuylkill. Was hired as a soldier by Printz on October 1,
1646, served until March 1, 1648. In 1648 a freeman."

Amanuensis Monday – An
Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to
copy what has been written by another. Amanuensis Monday is a daily
blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe
family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts.
Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words
breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in
their life before we knew them. A fuller explanation can be found here. Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

My father remembered stories about his mother being a swimmer and participating in events at Grand Lake near Celina, Ohio, but didn't have any details. I was lucky enough to find the picture above that includes my grandmother and her twin sister in their Celina swimsuits! The picture shows The Celina Boosters for the Grand Reservoir near Celina, Ohio on June 26, 1928. My grandmother Anna Lee Pulskamp Creeden is on the far right in this photo and her twin sister Emma Lee is #5. I found this picture in the Celina, Ohio Sesquicentennial book by Joyce Alig of the Mercer County Historical Society and Joyce kindly gave me permission to post it.

This excerpt is from an article in the Lima News, published on July 15, 1928, shortly after the picture was taken. The one-day tour on which the Celina Boosters Friday visited 12 Ohio and Indiana cities, proved an efficient method for spreading publicity and accumulating good will for Celina and especially Grand Lake and the parks... The initial stop was at Rockford. The delegation then proceeded to Ohio City, Van Wert, and Decatur, Ind. The Celina band gave concerts at each city. At Decatur, the party was served ice cream at the Cloverleaf creamery. Sounds like quite a party!

Grand Lake, St. Marys State Park, Ohio

The picture above is from Wikipedia. Grand Lake was constructed as a reservoir for the Miami and Erie canal and at one time was the world's largest man-made lake. The park has been a popular place for boating, hunting, fishing, swimming and picnicking for many years. More pictures and info on the park are here.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

These pictures were taken by my father in Celina, Ohio in July 1953. I believe these are from a parade on July 24, 1953 to celebrate Ohio's Sesquicentennial (1803-1953). I love seeing a glimpse of what his hometown looked like back then!

The float above has Miss Mercer County on it. Zooming in on the dates showed 1803-1953, the dates of Ohio's Sesquicentennial.

I was curious about the movies playing in the theater they were passing. Young Bess is about the life of Elizabeth I before she became queen and starred Jean Simmons, Stewart Granger, and Deborah Kerr. In The Atomic City, an atomic scientist's son is kidnapped by enemy agents. It starred Gene Barry, Lydia Clark, and Michael Moore.

From an article in the Lima News about the parade, there were floats depicting modern and pioneer life and people dressed in a variety of historical garb.The sign on the side of the wagon says "Karch Stone" and is referencing the John W. Karch Stone Co. quarry near Celina. There is a
mention of it in the Mercer County Ohio History 1978 book that says all stone
was transported by horse and wagon in the early 1900s. If anyone can explain why the wagon looks like a hearse, I would love to know!

Update from an email I received: There is a cemetery next to the quarry (Swamp College) and this could be the
carriage used at the cemetery with Karch’s name on it for advertising the
quarry.

The Chamber of Commerce float wraps it up with "Come Back to Celina" on the back!

Monday, July 2, 2012

This is Page 3 of the Matson family research from correspondence between researchers in 1903. They are continuing the discussion about the Matson family's possible Swedish origins. Several sources on Swedish immigrants to Pennsylvania and Delaware are listed.

...But it is just as likely that the Nilssons above are his sons and that
the Matson family is descended from one or more
of the Matte, Matts, or Mats given above.
You will recall that the first Swedish settlement on the Delaware was in 1638, that they were conquered by the Dutch in 1654, and it was not until 1664 that the grant of Charles II to his brother, James, Duke of York brought these settlers under the English crown. The deed of confirmation to Neals (or Nils) Matson in 1670 shows beyond question that he was one of the early Swedish settlers and that he found it necessary under the English rule to have the title to his 100 acres confirmed by the Duke of York's representative, Gov. Lovelace.
If it is your intention to work on the genealogy of the Matson family, I would suggest the following as being among the best authorities covering the Swedish colony:-
"History of New Sweden" by Carnpanius
"Arrival of the Swedes on the Delaware" by Rev. J. C. Clay, D.D.
Vincents' "History of Delaware"
Ferris' "Original Settlements on the Delaware"
"Records of Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church, Wilmington" recently published and U.S. records of Old Swedes (or Gloria Dei) Church, Philadelphia, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Amanuensis Monday – An
Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to
copy what has been written by another. Amanuensis Monday is a daily
blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe
family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts.
Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words
breathe life into kin – some we never met – others we see a time in
their life before we knew them. A fuller explanation can be found here. Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.